B-cell lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma remain incurable and progressive diseases that continue to rank as leading causes of mortality in patients with these diseases.
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are promising targets for cancer therapy. They are a family of enzymes that deacetylate lysine residues on histone and non-histone proteins, which play a role in regulating cell cycle progression and survival. Unfortunately, non-selective HDAC inhibitors have led to dose-limiting toxicities in patients. Ricolinostat is a novel selective histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor. HDAC6 is a class IIB histone deacetylase that plays an important role in the cellular response to environmental stress.
Bendamustine is an antineoplastic drug designed to combine the properties of a purine analogue and an alkylating agent.
Due to the dose-limiting toxicities of the above therapies, there is an ongoing need in the art for more efficacious and less toxic compositions and methods for the treatment of lymphoma. In order to meet these needs, provided herein are pharmaceutical combinations comprising an HDAC inhibitor and bendamustine, and methods for the treatment of lymphoma. The combinations and methods of the invention are well tolerated and do not exhibit the dose-limiting toxicities of prior therapies.